Saw a nail in the rear tire of my VTX1800F. The nail was near the center of the tire; an inch or so off center. It‘s a wide, low profile, expensive radial tire with only 3000 miles on it. I pulled the nail and the tire immediately went flat. I inserted a tire plug as I‘ve done before on cars. That‘s all I did, no patch. Since then I‘ve ridden the bike about 75 miles with no leaks or other issues. The center tread does not flex as a sidewall does so I think I‘m OK with the plug. However others say I‘m not; that the stress on the tire from acceleration and turning will cause the plug to fail. Is there someone out there who can advise me on this matter? Thanks in advance.
Plugs are notorious for eventually leaking. I think the flexing of the tire causes it to loosen or it opens up pinhole leaks. Then, when the tire gets a little low on air, the flexing increases and makes it worse. Plugs are fine if you're by the side of the road and you want to get rolling again, particularly on a motorcycle, where you can't just pop on a spare tire. However, once you get back home, it would be best to have that tire removed and patched from the inside. Don't mess around with bad tires on a MC, a sudden loss of pressure as you go into a turn has the potential to really screw up your day.
Plugs work just fine, however I will not plug V speed rated tires. That means they are tested safe up to 170 mph and any damage to tire will jeopardize its integrity.That means toss a punctured sport bike tire.
All plugs are not made the same. I have successfully plugged my tire, similar to yours using a mushroom shaped plug that is inserted with a tool with the mushroom part on the inside. It actually seals tighter with speed and cannot be spit out, which is why other plugs fail. Forget the advice offered on using a tube, never put an inner tube in a tubeless tire, the heat generated will cause the tube to fail in short order.
